Schnieders Capital Management LLC Invests $220,000 in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Schnieders Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 849 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $220,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of General Dynamics by 0.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,423,961 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $4,955,023,000 after acquiring an additional 133,061 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in General Dynamics by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,360,526 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $3,615,185,000 after purchasing an additional 1,755,276 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC grew its holdings in General Dynamics by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 4,017,057 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $887,649,000 after purchasing an additional 17,061 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in General Dynamics by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,293,269 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $506,744,000 after purchasing an additional 275,947 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in General Dynamics by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,258,362 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $499,030,000 after purchasing an additional 97,789 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other General Dynamics news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,355 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.31, for a total value of $8,551,750.05. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 773,977 shares in the company, valued at $204,569,860.87. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,355 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.31, for a total value of $8,551,750.05. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 773,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $204,569,860.87. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Mark C. Roualet sold 73,330 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.75, for a total transaction of $19,414,117.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 149,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,502,023.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GD. StockNews.com lowered shares of General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $253.00 to $284.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $301.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $291.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $283.80.

General Dynamics Price Performance

General Dynamics stock traded down $11.61 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $281.11. 3,766,049 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,101,527. General Dynamics Co. has a 1-year low of $202.35 and a 1-year high of $296.50. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $280.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $261.08. The firm has a market cap of $77.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The aerospace company reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.68 by ($0.04). General Dynamics had a return on equity of 16.61% and a net margin of 7.84%. The firm had revenue of $11.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.58 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 12th will be issued a dividend of $1.42 per share. This is a boost from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.32. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 11th. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.25%.

About General Dynamics

General Dynamics Corporation operates as an aerospace and defense company worldwide. It operates through four segments: Aerospace, Marine Systems, Combat Systems, and Technologies. The Aerospace segment produces and sells business jets; and offers aircraft maintenance and repair, management, aircraft-on-ground support and completion, charter, staffing, and fixed-base operator services.